It seems like records and turntables are the last remnants of the analog world. Our phones are pocket computers, our alarm clocks are Hell, our cars aren’t even mechanical anymore! The industry standard for turntables, the immortal Technics 1200, have been discontinued. Built like tanks and costing almost a downpayment on a car, these have been used by… well everyone. Jazzy Jeff, DJ Shadow, Tiesto, Jam Master Jay, DJ Premier, Orbital, you name it.

And you would think, as turntables get discontinued, that vinyl would die as well. We couldn’t be more wrong. This is a collectors market with rare pieces as valuable as a 1954 mint version of the New Yorker or an original Noah Webster bible. While book prices have always been crazy, especially for first editions, modern vinyl is following suit. Even Sigur Ros LPs are being sold for well over a hundred dollars. And rare funk? Well that’s a sellers market if you’ve ever seen one. This re-release of Jay-Z’s classic album, The Blueprint, has a potential to reach those rarefied and lofty heights of the ultimate hip hop collector’s vinyl. This is a classic hip hop record and, in my opinion, Jay-Z’s best. But the kicker with this pressing? Only 2001 have been made, all blue, on 180 gram vinyl. As of right now they are still for sale, get them while they’re hot and lock them in a vault.

When I get mine, that will be the start of my first child’s savings. I don’t have kids, but I’m not joking.